1. Director, Academic Writing Unit English Language Centre
Enhancing Student Course Performance Through One-to-one Consultations Durham Teaching and Learning Conference 2016
Nathan, P. (Dr.)
Director, Academic Writing Unit
English Language Centre

2. Academic Writing Consultations
45 minute long, one-to-one consultations/discussions between students and academic writing tutors usually based around a piece of student writing
Aimed at supporting students in developing their situated academic writing or meeting other academic need.
Provided to home and international students, UGs, PGTs, PGRs.
Teaching and learning sessions involving interaction and discussion (not an editing/proofreading service)
Book through online form at the ELC website
Students send texts for consideration beforehand (requested for two weeks before)

3. Academic Writing Consultations
Students can have three consultations each term (we have 4 terms)
Consultations are conducted face-to-face at the English Language Centre or via skype
Consultants are experienced academic writing tutors
MA /DELTA qualified EAP academic writing tutors with many years of teaching experience

4. Academic Writing Consultations: Quality and Feedback
Consultations handbook
Development sessions
Professional research/scholarship/empirical research to support consultants and consultancy system
Observation systems to support quality (only a small number conducted so far)
Electronic feedback obtained through Survey Monkey

5. Academic Writing Consultations
Consultations service is situated within the Academic Writing Unit at the English Language Centre
Funded through in-sessional support funding

6. Origins: The Consultation Service at Durham
- Tim Johns and academic writing tutorials at Birmingham University (2001)
Encountered through Kibbitzers (brief accounts of academic writing discussions posted by Tim Johns available on line)
Piecemeal consultations introduced in response to individual student and departmental requests and departmental at Durham in
More formal service established in

7. Origins and Development: The Consultation Service at Durham
For financial reasons, for several years, the service was advertised but no significant efforts were made to expand the service
Kept to around 300 consultations per year for several years

8. Development of the Consultations Service
Our academic writing consultations at Durham arise primarily in student need/demand and due to increasing numbers of requests/need led to the establishment of the more formal service
The introduction of an online form along with enhanced promotion and publicity in 2013 led to substantially increased levels of consultations
In the Academic Writing Unit at the English Language Centre delivered 842 consultations to more than 400 students
In this increased up to approximately 1139 consultations delivered to more than 500 students

9. Consultations by Department 2015-2016

10. In Numbers, Consultations 2015-2016
318 Business School 60 MLAC 59 Law 51 Psychology 47 Education 39 Philosophy 38 Theology 32 Applied Social Sciences 31 History

11. Numbers by Course Type 2014-2015 2015-2016 UG 277 393 PGT
(Combined PGR/PGT figure for )
532
421
PGR 94
ERASMUS
xxxx 63
STAFF 16

12. Face-to-face v Skype
face-to-face 37 skype face-to-face 50 (estimated)

13. Feedback on Consultation Quality (Based on 104 questionnaires)
100 % of respondents found their consultations helpful
93% of respondents rated their consultations extremely or very helpful (87% in )
100% would recommend the service to others ( , 95%)

14. Impact Survey (based on 129 questionnaires)
88% of students surveyed (113/129) said their marks on their academic assignments had improved because of their consultation
19% said their marks improved substantially, 40% said their marks improved somewhat, 29% improved but not substantially, 12% no improvement.

15. Evidence of Improvement (Student Comments)
without consultation 2.1 grades with consultations firsts
62 to 67%
I received marks in the high 60s rather than low 60s for an essay
before below 60 now above 60
before: 58, after: 65
I can't, but I think the consultation helped me improve my work by giving it a clearer structure (i.e. "signposting")
My draft was rewritten with better focus
Helped me deal with problems with anxiety that enabled me to achieve higher marks
Before consultation was 58 marked for my top mark because professors said that it was difficult to understand my English. After consultation I got 67 marked, and professor did not say about my English written.

16. Evidence of Improvement
My average mark went up 10 points between term 1 and term 2
Before consultations I was in the range of 60-67, and after consultations I graduated with a distinction award in my masters
No I cannot provide evidence it as such in marks but I feel as though I would have achieved a lower mark had I not been to this consultation
As I started taking advices from my tutor my essays marks went from 59 to 65
Mark for the formative assessment: 54, mark for the summative: 67
According to my supervisor my writing had improved from my formative to my summative assignment
I was running at a 2.2 about 55% and now I am up to a 2.1 at 63%
One of my summative assignment is 79 and normally my summative assignment is around 70

17. Qualities of our Consultants
Strong as teachers (experienced and qualified in teaching)
Listening and attentive to student perceptions of need
Work collaboratively and interactively with students (listening again!)
Independent of departments/disciplines
Knowledge and understanding of academic writing concepts including
- disciplinary variation
- genre variation
- cohesion and coherence
- argument structure
- impersonality and identity in academic writing
- assignment structure
- rhetorical strategies and structures

18. Qualities of our Consultants
Generally not advising on disciplinary content (interested academic writing focused observer of disciplinary content)
Efficient and stick to time
Broad knowledge of linguistics (An excellent knowledge of discourse, grammar and lexis is assumed)
Sensitive and caring (supporting students in achieving)
Pragmatic

19. Future Developments
Expansion of consultations within budgeting and other constraints
Further development and training of staff
Increase further awareness amongst students and staff about the consultation service
Additional research on effectiveness